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Throw Out Members of Congress Who Oppose Jobs Bill

Any lawmaker who stands in the way of creating jobs for other Americans must be voted out in 2012 and sent home packing.

[Black Star News Editorial]

This week is D-Day for Republicans when they reject President Barack Obama's jobs bill.

Republicans will repudiate the president's attempt to create 2 million new jobs with his $447 billion proposal through the American Jobs Act, at a time when millions of Americans are now joining and supporting "Occupy Wall Street," a campaign against greed that has now become international.

There were more than 1,300 protest locations today, in several American cities and throughout the world, including in South Africa.

Republicans will reject the president's proposal when it comes before the Senate tomorrow at a time when 25 million Americans are searching for full-time work. The Republicans, joined by some weak-kneed Democrats, will tear up President Obama's proposal even as unemployment remains at 9.1% (16.1% for African Americans; and above 50% for Black males in cities such as Newark).

The Republicans will throw away the proposal even though the Jobs Bill will: provide billions of dollars for infrastructure work, thereby immediately creating new jobs; provide billions of dollars to keep teachers and other public employees working; expand the payroll tax cuts and increase the cuts by more than half; provide tax cuts for employers who hire the long-term unemployed, including veterans; and, provide thousands of dollars to ordinary Americans, through tax cuts.

The President proposes a new tax for wealthy Americans making more than $1 million. These are the "base" of Republican support. No wonder Republicans oppose the Jobs Bill.

No wonder Congress' approval rating now hovers at an all-time low of 14%.

Republicans want the economy to worsen over the next 12 months; they see this as their best way of clearing a path to The White House.

Voters must make sure that Republican lawmakers pay at the polls next year. Every lawmaker, Republican and Democrat in Washington, has a well-paid job funded by the American taxpayer. These "law makers" have the best medical healthcare coverage and other benefits.

So any lawmaker who stands in the way of creating jobs for other Americans must pay the price next year. She or he must be sent packing, home.

That's the very least that voters can do. That's the very least that the millions of Americans who now support the "Occupy Wall Street" campaign can do.

They owe it to themselves. They owe it to their families. They owe it to this country.